Cosmetics companies swear you need a full line of coordinated high-tech products to beat your skin into submission. I took the bait early. For over a decade, I anxiously cleansed, exfoliated, toned, applies special serums and gels, moisturized–all twice a day–and regularly used fancy masks. You know what I got? So-so skin and a scary bill. Oh, and a boatload of unregulated chemicals. (If you think the FDA regulates your skincare ingredients, think again.)

After growing terribly ill and switching to a holistic approach to heal, I got smart about those chemicals. I switched to natural product lines, some of them quite excellent. (Chae Organics is a notable example.) But it took me a lot longer to ditch the old mentality. I still thought I needed all the specialized products, that my body was the enemy. Skin “care” was really about skin control.

You know that feeling of resistance, the but-I’ve-already-tried-a-million-other-things-so-keep-your-advice-to-yourself feeling? I get it pretty regularly, whether it’s about Baby Bear’s remaining sleep issues (O.M.G. when will it end???) or about my lingering health issues or, as it was a couple of weeks ago, about my scar.

I always have this feeling when people tell me what I should do about my scar. It’s big and bulgy and very visible—almost impossible to cover with anything but a scarf or a turtleneck. And until a couple of years ago, it was also fiery red and painful. I’ve had it for *gulp* 12 years. (How is that even possible?)

Actually, I’ve had this exact scar, the product of my plastic surgery scar revision—which looks exactly like the first one did (yay)—for 10 years.The first scar was the shocking product of my sterno-clavicular joint reconstruction, one of the rarest orthopedic surgeries to fix one of the weirdest problems you’ll ever run across.

The Big Announcement

Today it’s official official: I’m one of three new monthly contributors at the real food blog, The Nourishing Gourmet! I appreciate this opportunity so much, given to me by the lovely Kimberly Harris. I’ve followed Kimi’s blog for many years, which makes it even more fun and exciting to get to participate in the great work she’s doing.

So, thank you, Kimi, for including me in your team and for sharing your gifts with the world!

Back to the Custard…

Do you see that pot of yum above?

That, my friends, is a honey caramel custard laced with vanilla and cardamom, topped with tender apples and whipped coconut cream . . . with no sugar (sucrose), dairy, eggs, gluten, grains, guar gum, or other top allergens or GAPS no-nos. (I did garnish with almonds, but you can swap those out for toasted coconut flakes.) If you’re on a restricted diet like we are these days as we cooperate with new healthcare practitioners, that’s probably music to your ears. And the best part is that it really is delicious, so you can share it with your whole family or a gathering of friends during this festive Autumnal season.

“Have you ever tried soap nuts? I just read about them and am intrigued.”

Follow that intrigue! Yes, I have used soap nuts for my laundry, and they worked well. They’re nontoxic, economical, and SIMPLE. Ingredient list: soap nuts.

For those wondering what I’m talking about, I’ll let NaturOli, a good soap nut company, explain:

Very simply, soap nuts are the dried shells (or husks) from the soapberry (or soap berry nut). These berries are the fruit from a quite unique tree species. These shells contain a substance called saponin that produces a soaping effect. Saponin is a 100% natural alternative to chemical laundry detergent and cleansers. It can replace many chemical detergents such as those containing sodium laureth sulphate (SLS) that are becoming well known by consumers for being a skin irritant and health hazard.

Soap nuts have been used for centuries throughout the world as a laundry detergent, as soap for personal hygiene, and as a cleanser with a plethora of other uses. It is most commonly used in India, China, parts of Europe and numerous countries in the eastern hemisphere. (source)

[Note: A blog reader alerted me to some underhanded advertising on NaturOli’s part. I do still believe they sell a good product, but will not be supporting them further with my business. Their marketing is not illegal, but it is misleading and not to my taste.]

After rehydrating them in warm water, you put a few of these shriveled up “nuts” in a muslin bag and toss it in with your laundry. Clothes come out clean. Amazing, right? As I write this, I’m not entirely sure why I stopped using them after my experiment a few years ago. Two possibilities:

1) They were less mainstream and, thus, less available back then. Now I see that both Amazon and Vitacost sell them. That’s a big improvement.

2) They’re a wee bit of a pain, with the rehydrating and the fishing them out of the load before it goes into the dryer and the keeping up with how many times you’ve used them. Maybe for me they’re too much of a pain, especially since I have help with some of our laundry, and I strongly suspect Miss C would not love soap nuts. They do require a mental shift.

Oh boy. I write this post today feeling all the distress of watching my baby suffer and not knowing how to help. Do I have a plan? Yes. Is it sensible and multi-faceted, considering the whole body, person, and system? Yes. Does that automatically make me feel better?

Are you kidding me???

I have no certainty that I’m “right,” or that this plan will work. It’s an experiment. What a great thing an experiment is! How many opportunities to learn and discover! I can recognize and even feel the joy of that, and yet how much I still long for black and white, yes or no. I just want to KNOW what to do. Better yet, shouldn’t someone ELSE know what to do and fix it for me?

I wrote in the first post of this series that I’d share some of my process for finding healing, that I’d answer questions like, “How did you know to try x?” Here’s a secret: I didn’t. I don’t.